District News Roundup

Parents of seven white, non-Hispanic students in Fallbrook, Calif.,
have filed suit in state superior court against the board of education
for the Fallbrook Union Elementary School District, alleging that the
district is operating one or more segregated schools.

The parents claim that minority enrollment in some of the district's
schools is so disproportionately high that minority students are
isolated from other students, thus depriving all students of an
"integrated educational experience."

The parents also allege in their suit, which was filed last month,
that their children are being deprived of equal educational
opportunities because the proportion of bilingual classes is so great
in some schools that it tends to reduce the choice of classes for
English-speaking students.

Approximately 22 percent of the Fallbrook district's student body is
Hispanic, according to David R. Gammie, director of business and
classified-personnel services. At present, 806 Hispanic students, or
about 61 percent of all Hispanic students, are enrolled in
bilingual-education classes.

"We feel that the alleged charges in this lawsuit are untrue. We do
not feel that we have any segregated schools," said Mr. Gammie. He
added that he could not be more specific at this time.

A county judge upheld a Pottsville, Pa., Catholic school's
suspension of a varsity football player who fathered the child of
another student, on the grounds that "due process does not apply to
private and parochial schools" and that the suspension did not cause
him any immediate or irreperable harm.

Judge John E. Lavelle of Schuylkill County refused last month to
issue a preliminary injunction allowing the Nativity Catholic High
School junior, Robert Doyle Jr., to continue to play.

The parents decided not to appeal the injunction or pursue the case,
according to their lawyer, Richard Smolens.

The school's principal, the Rev. Steven Maco, said at the hearing
last month that the suspension resulted from the student's failure to
"reflect the values and moral principles of the Catholic Church,"
according to a press account.

Judge Lavelle ruled that the student's suspension from the football
team was a legitimate disciplinary action.

The Doyles had sued the school and the diocese after Reverend Maco
told them on Sept. 4 that their son could no longer publicly represent
the high school.

More than 10 percent of the 365 students who attend the Olivia
(Minn.) High School have been barred from extracurricular activities
following a fatal automobile accident after a party that violated the
school's drinking policy.

Thirty-eight students from the high school attended the party, which
took place in a public park near Olivia on Sept. 23. Todd Mathiowetz,
aged 17, was killed when the car he was driving ran off the road as he
left the party that night.

"Not all the students were drinking," said Jerry Bass,
superintendent of the high school. "But our rule states that 'a student
shall not consume, possess, or be in the presence of others who are
consuming or in possession of an alcoholic beverage."'

The rule covers all circumstances, not just gatherings related to
school activities, according to Delbert J. Altmann, principal of Olivia
High School.

The students, who were members of the band, the National Honor
Society, and school athletic teams, were suspended for four to eight
weeks.

The reaction to the suspensions has been generally favorable, Mr.
Bass said. "The majority of the people I've been in contact with are
supportive of the decision. Some said that it was something that should
have been done years ago, that could possibly have averted this
tragedy."

Parents talented in photography, macrame, typing, cooking, and
stenciling were among the 23 recruited last year by the St. Catherine's
School of Silver Lake, N.J., to teach Continued on Following Page
Continued from Preceding Page
0-week "mini-courses" at the school.

The volunteer program was so successful last year that it will be
continued this year as part of an attempt by school officials to
supplement a basic curriculum and "enrich the children's lives,"
according to Ruth Pfister, the teacher who is coordinating the
parental-involvement project.

"I don't think our budget is as good as the public school's
budget,'' said Ms. Pfister. "We wanted our children to get as much as
they could, so we did this by using the volunteer parents."

By condensing class periods on Fridays, school officials have been
able to set aside a one-hour period for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders to
participate in the "mini-courses." This year as last, letters were sent
home to parents asking them to volunteer to teach a course on a subject
about which they are knowledgeable.

Based on the parents' responses to the first request, students were
offered courses in computers, jazzercise, needlepoint, knitting,
crocheting, art, art appreciation, problems of the handicapped, and
cardiopulmonary resuscitation, according to Ms. Pfister.

"The parents enjoyed it very much, being part of the school," she
said, "and the children learned something they don't normally get in
the classroom."

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